Dry Lager Yeast how much is enough?

[PaisleyExport]

Hi all,

scratching my head at the moment wrt yeast as I prep for my first lager brewday.

I’ve made a mess of pitch rate in previous batches so I’ve used my copy of “how to brew” to determine how much yeast to pitch and for a 23l batch at SG of 1.048 of Czech Pilsner. it’s pointing me towards approx 385bn cells which equates to about 7 packs of the M84 Magrove Jacks (50bn viable cells per pack).

Before this I was planning on pitching twice the yeast for a lager and bought two packs as each one should do a 23l batch on the pack.
7 packs seems excessive but I don’t want to under pitch.
what are folks views?

 

[Tanglefoot]

I'm about to try my first lager in my brewfridge using same yeast.
Mangrove Jack's instructions say two packs for 23 litres if brewing between 10 - 15 c , rehydrating in 100ml of water at 20 - 25 c and stirring after 15mins before adding to wort.
7 packets sounds way over the top to me
but I am a lagering novice.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

2 packs will work fine

 

[jceg316]

Rule of thumb, pitch twice the amount of lager yeast to ale yeast if fermenting cool. As Tanglefoot says, 2 packets at 10-15°C should suffice.

Something else to try: if possible make a 4-5L batch of lager using one sachet, once fermented pitch the yeast cake straight into the 23L batch.

 

[MickDundee]

I’ve always done 2 packs for dried lager yeast. The only time I’ve used liquid I’ve done 2 starters with it.

 

[foxbat]

Although I only use liquid yeast the common rule of thumb for dry yeast is 2x 11g packs.

5bn viable cells/g is a pessimistic lower limit and you can expect much better. Fermentis are similar with their 6bn/g estimate and everyone pitches 2 packs of their lager yeasts with good results.

 

[MmmBeer]

I quickly crunched the numbers and yes, technically 7 packs would be optimum. However, in the real world, unless your a commercial brewer who has to turn around each batch as quickly as possible, 2 packs will suffice nicely, it'll just have a longer lag time before bubbling starts.